The virus. Why Johnson fell. Why Johnson flourished. Two first drafts of history from 2024.

Two extreme versions of what happens next in Britain. Events are more likely to end up somewhere in the middle.

British politics begins self-isolation

It froze up during Brexit stasis, thawed when Boris Johnson won his majority – and is closing down again as the coronavirus advances.

WATCH: Abbott – “Becky stood by the members’ choice.”

Long-Bailey stayed loyal to Corbyn, and that’s why Abbott is supporting her in the Labour leadership contest.

“The shocking influence of lawyers on policy”

The Government seems to be gearing up for a big fight over human rights laws in the wake of the Streatham terror attack.

Richard Holden: Labour – from a big party of people with small houses to a small party of people with big houses.

Regardless of whether the party chooses Starmer or Long-Bailey, it seems intent of fighting the last war next time.

Rachel Wolf: My top tip for Labour leadership candidates – parties can’t win everywhere, and shouldn’t try

Try to please everyone and you end up pleasing nobody. Even Lisa Nandy, who seems more alert than most of her rivals, has fallen into this trap.

Labour leadership contenders are lurching to the Left to placate Corbynistas

The dismay the electorate showed for them last is being ignored. That makes it much harder for whoever becomes the Leader of the Opposition to establish any credibility.

WATCH: Bit late now 4) “It’s a devastating result for the Labour Party” – Starmer

“For the millions of people who desperately needed change at that general election – they still need that change.”

Conservative Party members think Keir Starmer would be the most effective Labour leader

And by ranking Rayner second, they appear to agree that “Rebecca Long Bailey isn’t even the best Labour leader in her own flat”.

Why the second referendum campaign is failing

It is as if it had become a vehicle to help Blair redeem his reputation and popularity, lost after the Iraq War.

If MPs carry on delaying Brexit, they risk the most savage ravaging of their reputation since the expenses scandal

It is time for the Commons to stop telling us what it’s against and to show what it’s for, which ought to be: this deal.

WATCH: “Keir Starmer is 100 per cent Remainer” – rebel Labour MP

Ronnie Campbell added that “this country is fed up with Parliament…it’s time we got a deal, and got it through.”

Don’t assume that this Commons will vote for a general election

MPs would thus become the elected equivalents of the welfare scroungers of tabloid legend – dragging the reputation of Parliament even deeper into the mud.

Andrew Gimson’s Conference sketch: The Foreign Secretary trumped by Rees-Mogg the Tory Democrat

Raab trod gingerly in Heseltine’s footsteps, while the Leader of the House presented the Shakespearean drama of politics.

WATCH: Starmer urges Labour to back a second referendum

“We have to move on. We have to find a way forward. And there’s now only one way. ‘Put it to the people’.”